Reenforced-paper strip



June 26, 1923.

C. H. HOWARD BEENFORCED PAPER STRIP 1 Filed April 15 1920 Patented twee,was.

CHARLES H. HOWARD, 0F SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PAPER PRODUCTSMACHINE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA-CHUSETTS.

Y annnrononp-rernn srmr.

Application filed April 15, 1920. Serial No. 374,134}.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. HowARD, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Saug-us, county of Essex, and 'State of Massachusetts,have invented an Improve ment in Reenforced-Paper Strips, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings is as ecification, like characters on the drawlngs representing like parts.The invention to be hereinafter described relates to compositereenforced fabrics, and

more particularly to plural ply fabrics reenforced by unspun fibres,such, for example, as ramie, hemp, sisal, flax and other forms offibres.

The preparation of the natural fibre in its unspun condition may becarried into effect by the usual process of scutching, hackling,drawing, or any or all of the operations em? ployed in the preparationof ramie, hemp, sisal, flax and other forms of fibre, wherein the stapleor length of the fibre is greater than in some of the other naturalfibres.

In carrying the invention into practical efi'ect; it is-preferable toemploy fibres of long staple, but in some instances relatively .shortfibres may be mixed in with the long fibres.

In order that the fibres may serve efficiently to reinforce the fabric,it is desirable that they shall extend in general parallel condition andin substantially straight condition. However, the fibres have a tendencyto kink orcurl or otherwise depart from substantially straightcondition. This feet, together with the fact that a multi-' plicity ofthe fibres are employed in sheet form for reinforcing effect, have madeit difficult to so control the fibres that they will be properlydistributed so as to furnish the desired reinforcement throughout thearea of the fabric.

One good method of applying the un-' spun fibres to'paper or otherfabrics 1s characterized by supplying the fibres in the form of a seriesof rovings placed s1de by side, and feeding the rovings betweenflutedrolls. which tends to flatten the same out into 9 sheet form. The layeror sheet of unspun fibres may be then fed to a combing apparatus whichmay beoperated at a speed such that the fibres are drawn out and placedunder a draft or tension such thatthey tend to approach substantialparallel relation. Also, this comblng step tends to attenuate the sheetso that the thickness of the sheet may be substantially equal to thethickness of a single fibre, and the draft or tension preferably ismaintained upon' the fibres while they are adhesively secured to thefabric to be reenforced.

It is inevitable, however, in thus controlling theimultiplicityof fibreswithout positive control thereover, that substantial longi tudinalspaces may occur between the fibres or between groups of the fibres, andalso since the fibres may be of difierent lengths v with different draftefiect thereon, the fibres may be so drawn that end to end spaces willoccur between some of them.

The layer or sheet of fibres thus prepared may be applied to an adhesivecoating, such, for example, as black asphaltum on a single sheet ofpaper or fabric, and in some instances, a second sheet of paper may besuper-posed upon the first sheet, so that the adhesive layer and theunspun fibres therein will be covered on both sides by the paper orfabric layers.

'Thisconstitutes a good efiicient form of fabric for many purposes, butin some uses it is desirable that the paper or fabric shall receivereinforcement by the fibres substantially throughout the entire areathereof. In other words, it is desirable that the longitudinal and endto end spaces referred to,

or other spaces between the fibres shall have means therefor, and to so.distribute the fibres that the liability of occurrence of theobjectionable spaces referred to, will be reduced to a minimum. Toaccomplish this,

in the present instance, a second sheet of unspun fibres such asdescribed, is included in the composite fabric. The second sheet ofunspun fibres may be desirably applied to the opposite side of one ofthe sheets of paper or fabric referred to, having the sheet of unspunfibres applied thereto, and the second sheet ofdmspun fibres may pliedto an adhesive coating or layer. on such sheet of paper or fabric, andthis adhesive ate adhesive. "To protect and conceal the second sheet ofunspun fibres, the composite for which the reenforcedstrip paper orfabric may. desirably include a third sheet of paper which will'besuper- A posed on the first two sheets, and be in adhesive engagementwith the adhesive layer which serves to secure the unspun fibres to thefirst two sheets described.

It is found in practice that where a second'sheet of unspun fibres suchas described is employed, that'there may be longitudinal and end to endspaces therebetween, but the likelihood of registration of the spacesbetween the fibres of the second sheet with the spaces between thefibres of the first sheet is quite remote, and as a consequence, a Icomposite fabric provided with the two sheets of unspun fibres willsubstantially insure such distribution of the unspun fibres as .toprevent occurrence of substantialportions ofthe fabric without unspunfibre reinforcement.

If a still stronger reinforcement is desired, still another sheet ofunspun fibres maybe employed, and ifdesired still another sheet of papermay be employed to conceal the unspun fibre sheet. In fact, as many morethan two sheets of unspun fibres in the com; posite fabric may beemployed as desired:

The accompanying drawing illustrates a composite sheet of fabricreenforced by unspun fibres in accordance with the present invention,and also shows several uses for Y which such a strip is well adapted,but it will be apparent that a fabric constructed in accordance withthis invention is well adaptedfor various purposes other than hereinshown and described. 1

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of astrip of reenforced fabric constructedin accordance with theinvention', the strips of which the same isconstructed being shown rolled back at one edge;

Fig. 1 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 1 -1of Fig. 1;

' Fig. 2 is a view showing one use for which the strip of reenforcedfabric is well adapt- Fig, 3 is a view showing a somewhat different useof the same; and

Fig. 4; is a view showing still a third use is well adapted. J

Referring to the drawing and rrore particularly to Figs. 1 and 1?, thenumeral 10 designates a strip of reenforced fabric constructed inaccordance with the invention,

and this rcenforced strip is preferably formed of at least threeseparate strips of paper or other fabric designated as 11, 12 and 13.The adjacent faces of these three strips preferably have placed betweensame a sheet of longitudinally the I extending nezfwill be practicallyuniform throughout 130 filaments of unspun fibres as designated by 14.These filaments are preferably arranged to form sheets with theindividual fibres lying closely ad'acent .to each other in substantiallyparal e1 relation, and are secured to the adjacent faces of said stripsby an adhesive, which serves also to secure the ad-.

jacent strips together,-that is, the adhesive which secures the fibresupon theupper face of the strip 12 will serve also to secure the. strip11 thereto while the adhesive which secures the fibres to the lower faceof the strip 12 will serve also to secure the strip proof adhesive beused, such as black asphaltum.

Various kinds of filaments of unspun fibre may be used to reinforce'thestrip 10, but a relatively long inexpensive filament. possessingconsiderable strength is preferable, and since it is practicallyimmaterial whether the fibres are coarse or not, hemp, jute, ramie,sisal, and various other well known fibres may be used as thereinforcing filament. It will also be apparent that the reinforcingfilaments may be applied either to the opposite faces of theintermediate strip 12 or to the inner faces of the strips 11 and 13, andin the particular embodiment illustrated it will be noted" that somefibres are shown as adhering to each ofthese three stri s.

V S fnce the filaments used in reinforcing the strip 10 preferably areunspun fibres, the individual fibres which are placed upon the strip tobe reenforced will not in allprobability be arranged uniformly upon thesame, due to the ten tolrink or curl, and due to the various otherdifficulties met with in attempting to arrangerthe individual fibresintoa uniform sheet. As aresult, small spaces or patches will probablyoccur upon each strip such as indicated by 14* which are not reenfoi'cedby any fibres. It is therefore very desirable to use a second stripwhich is similarly reenforced by a second sheet of unspun'fibres,

ency of the individual, fibres or to apply a similar reinforcing sheetof fibres to the opposite face bf the strip which was previouslyreenforced. This is desirfore, be seen that by providing a strip ofpaper of several ply having more than one 1 sheet of reinforcingfilaments, the strength of the strip which is reenforced in this manthesame, notwithstanding the fact that small spaces or gaps may occur ineach sheet of filament in which the. fibres are missing. 'A fabricreenforced in the manner just described maybe employed for many purjustmentioned it is desirable to wrap this strip spirally about anindividual tire or other ring like article, or to wrap the same 1spirally about the inner and outer walls of a stack of these articles tobind the same into a ackage.

eretofore paper strips have been-used to wrap about a single tire, orother articles which did not place a'severe strain upon strip, but ifthe package to be wrapped was a heavy coil of wire or other heavyarticle, it was customary to use strips of burlap to wrap about thesame, as paper heretofore used was not strong enough to withstand thesevere strain and wear upon the same. While burlap usually possesses thedesired strength, it is comparatively expensive and is not entirelysatisfactory for other reasons. When astrip of reenforced fabric iswound spirally about a tire, a coil of wire or other ring like articleto be protected, the greatest wear upon this wrapping strip falls uponthe leading or exposed longitudinally extending edge of the same, and inorder to strengthen or reinforce this leading edge, a portion of thesame is preferably folded under or back upon the strip, as indicated by15 in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. The folding under of this edge veryefi'ectively reinforces the same, and it is found in actual use that astrip which has been reenforced by unspun fibres in the manner abovepointed out and then had the leading (edge of the same folded under, isstrong enough to readily withstand all strains to which the same will besubmitted in either winding the strip about the article to be .wrappedor, later on, in transportation of the article protected by thiswrapper. This is because folding the leading edge of the strip under,not only provides a'smooth edge where the wear and strain is thegreatest, but whatv is more important a very strongly reenforced' edgeis provided as clearly shown in Fig. 1. In this figure it will be seenthat this edge is strengthened by four sheets of unspun fibres asindicated'by 14, and six sheets of paper or other fabric as indicated by11, 12 and 13. If spaces, weak 1 spots or areas without reinforcingfibres should occur in one of the reinforcing sheets 14 at the fold,this weak spot will invariably be reenforced by fibres at the fold inthe adjacent sheet 14. Margins of different widths maybe folded under asdesired, but

,fibres will invariably fall at the folded edge.

The edge 15 of the strip 10 may be folded over in a final step inmanufacturing the strip preparatory to forming this strip into a packageto be sent out on the market, or,

if desired, the machine used to coil this strip spirally about the ringlike article to be wrapped may be provided with a device for foldingover this edge. The folding of the strip immediately before the same iswrapped about thearticle to be protected, will be found desirable inmost cases, be-

cause this avoids the necessity of forming a package of thestrip 10 inwhich one edge of the same, due to the fold 15, is twice as thick as theopposite edge. Any appropriate folder of well knownconstruction may beused to fold over this edge, either before the strip is formed into apackage or while the str'p is being delivered to the mechanism whichwinds the same about the article to be wrapped. r

A strip 10, when constructed in the manner above pointed out, isadmirably well adapted as a wrapper to be wound spirally around one ormore automobile tires, such as'indicated by 16 in Fig. 2, or to bind upand protect a relatively large heavy coil of wire, such as indicated by17 in Fig. 3. These coils of wire commonly weigh over two hundred poundsand yet a wrapping stripof paper when constructed in the manner abovepointedout will satisfactorily withstand the strain to which it issubmitted in binding up a coil of this Weight. In

Figs. 2 and 3 the strip 10 isshown as wound like articles upon which thesame is placed, and in each of these figures the leading end 18 is shownin a downwardly extending position ready to be further coiled about thearticle which it is to cover. In each of these figures the folded overedge 15 is clearly shown in full lines upon the end portion 18 and indotted lines where the strip 10 has been coiled. s

In Fig. 4 is shown a stack of tires or other ring like articles 19 suchas heretofore" have been bound into a package by winding spiral stripsof burlap about the same in the manner above mentioned. In the presentinvention these articles 19. are shown as bound together by thereenforced wrapper strip 10 which is passed about the ends of thecylinder-like structure thus formed and about the inner and outerwallsof the same. The strip 10, when constructed as above pointed out, issufliciently strong to secure a number of tires or other articlestogether 7 in a single package, while at the same time.

it is much less expensive than the binding strips heretofore used.

The reenforced strip 10 while shown and described as of three-ply may bereenforced with additional strips, if d8Sl16d,'T'bl1l3 the particularcgnstruction shown is ,found to be .very satisfactory, due to the twoseparate sheets of reinforcing filaments of unspun fibres, since in thisarrangement, when a space occurs upon one str1p in which the reinforcingfibres are missing, the reinforcing fibres upon the-other strip will, inall probability, extend over this weak spot, as

"it is very unlikely that two such weak spaces will fall oppositeeach-other.

An important advantage in using unspun fibres to reinforce paper insteadof spun fibres results from the fact that spun fibres will stretchsufliciently to permit the paper to tear before the spun fibres arebroken, but

\ paper,reinforcing layers of unspun unspun fibres will not stretchappreciably and hence will not permit the paper to tear until the strainis great enough to break the fibres.

Claimso 1. As' an article of manufacture, reenforced paper comprising acentre stri b of res adhesively secured to the opposite faces of saidcentre strip with the fibres extending in substantially parallelrelation, the individual fibres of each reinforcing layer being arrangedclosely adjacent but unsymmetrical relative to'each other and the fibresin one layer serving to reinforce the spaces in which fibres may bemissing from the other layer, and exterior strips of paperenclosing thecentre strip and the reinforcing fibres and adhesively secured thereto.

2. As an article of manufacture, a reen-' forced paper comprising acentre strip .of

\ paper,'a layer of unspun fibres adhesively secured to one face of saidstrip and extending longitudinally of the strip, a layer of unspunfibres adhesively secured to the opposite face of said strip andextending longitudinally thereof, each layer having the fibres formingthe same spread approximately uniformly throughout the layer and inclosely adjacent relation, and exterior strips of paper enclosing thecentre strip and the reinforcing unspun fibres and ad hesively securedthereto. 3. As an article of manufacture, reenforced paper comprising acentre strip of paper, reinforcing layers of filaments adhesive'lysecured to the opposite faces of said centre strip with the filamentsextending in substantially parallel relation, the in dividual filamentsof each reinforcing layer being arranged closely adjacent butunsymmetrical relative to each otherand the filaments in one layerserving to reinforce the spaces in which filaments may be missing fromthe other layer, and exterior stri s of paper enclosing the centre stripand t e reinforceing filaments secured to the, centre stri y Y L As anarticle of manufacture, a wrapper strip-of reenforced paper comprising acentre strip of paper, longitudinally exsecured to each faceof saidtending 'unspun fibres adhesively secured to each surface of the centrestrip of paper in the form of a thin sheet or layer, exterior strips ofpaper enclosing the central strip and the reinforcing unspun fibres andadhesively secured thereto, and the reenforced paper having alongitudinally extending edge thereof folded under to further.

strengthen the same.

5. A wrapper strip of reenforced paper to be'wound spirally about ringlike articles of manufacture, comprising a three-ply strip of paperhaving the ad acent faces of the individual strips reenforced bylongitudinally extending filaments of relatively long, strong, unspunfibres secured to said faces by a waterproof adhesive of blackasphaltum, said wrapper strip having the leading longitudinallyextending edge thereof further strengthened by folding a portion of thesame under.

6. A wrapper strip of reenforced paper to\be wound spirally about ringlike articles of manufacture, comprising a three-ply strip of paperreenforced by longitudinally extending filaments of unspun fibres ad-.hesively secured to the opposite faces of the intermediate strip, saidthree-ply strip having the longitudinally extending edge thereof whichis exposed when wound spirally about a ring like article furtherreenforced by folding a portion of the same under.

7. A wrapper strip of reenforced paper, comprising a strip of paperhaving a layer of unspun fibres adhesively secured to each of its faces,each layer of unspun fibres having a strip of paper adhesively securedto the outer face thereof, said reenforced paper I a longitudinallyextending edge thereof folded under to further stfengthen having thesame.

8. As an article of manufacture, a reenforced paper wrapper comprising acentre strip of paper, longitudinally extending unspun fibres adhesivelysecured to each surface of the centre strip of paper in theform of athinlayer, and exterior strips of paper inclosing the central strip and thereinin substantially parallel relation andeach As an article ofmanufacture, reenma am layer having a thickness substantially equal tothe thickness of one of the fibres, and exterior strips ofpaperenclosing the centre strip and the reinforcing fibres secured to i 5 thecentre strip.

11. A Wrapper strip of reenforced paper.

to be wound spirally about articles of manufacture, comprisin athree-ply strip of paper having the a jacent faces of the ina Waterproofadhesive, and the wrapper strip having one of its longitudinal edgesfurther strengthened by folding a POItIOII of the same under.

In testimony Whereef, I. have signed my name to this spcification.

t LES H; HOWARD.

